Hall of Fame St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley said he hopes UCLA freshman Kyle Anderson is cleared by the NCAA and is able to compete this season.
The 6-foot-9 Anderson led St. Anthony to back-to-back New Jersey Tournament of Champions titles and a 65-0 record in his two seasons at the school. Among other things, the NCAA is looking into Anderson’s relationship with NBA agent Thad Foucher, who has a preexisting relationship with Kyle Anderson Sr. from their AAU days.
“I read about it, kind of read as much as I could about it and hope that it all gets resolved quickly because we’re going to try to see him over the Barclays Center in a few weeks [when UCLA plays in the Legends Classic Nov. 19-20],” Hurley told SNY.tv Thursday.
“I just don’t know anyone around him that would put him in this situation,” Hurley added. “He’s got a terrific family.
“I wasn’t involved in the recruiting process. “They kept me abreast of what was happening from one week to the next. But I don’s see that as the people that I know, so I’m hoping this thing all gets resolved and that he’s able to go out there and have a good year because I really expect him to have a terrific season.”
Hurley has previously told SNY.tv that Anderson, who was tabbed by CBSSports.com as the No. 6 best point guard in college basketball, is a “modern-day Magic Johnson.”
Anderson’s UCLA teammate, Shabazz Muhammad, is also being investigated by the NCAA. Both players are able to practice with the team, although Muhammad injured his right shoulder Wednesday at practice.
FOUR DIVISION I COMMITS
Without Anderson this season, St. Anthony has no true superstar, but they now have four Division 1 commits.
Josh Brown (Temple), Hallice Cooke (Oregon State), Kentrell Brooks (Marist) and Tim Coleman (NJIT) are all committed.
“Four done now and there’s two more seniors so I hope something works out for both of them,” Hurley said.
The other two seniors are 6-8 Canadian forward Aaron Ariri and 6-3 wing Cody Jenkins.
“[Ariri] is a four,” Hurley said. “We’ll try to build up his versatility. He’s a quick learner and a hard worker and we’re working with him on weight training. His body’s gotta get quicker, but he’s a very good prospect. The longer he’s here, once people are aware of him, I think he’ll definitely draw recruiting interest.”
Hurley compared Ariri to former St. Anthony power forward Jerome Frink, now at FIU.
“We’d like to think that because we had Jerome for four years, that by the time he’s a senior he learned certain things and that made him a very dangerous player,” Hurley said. “This kid has played a lot of good basketball and is pretty versatile and now we’re trying to figure out what he can be good at.”
He added: “There was some talk that he might reclassify if he doesn’t have enough recruiting interest, but the way he looks in the gym I think there will be enough schools interested in him and he can graduate and go on to a Division I school at the end of this year.”
As for the 6-5 Coleman, who committed to NJIT this past week, Hurley said.
“He might’ve been the strongest kid on our team last year,” he said. “If only for the knee injury he had two-thirds through the season people just kind of forgot about him.
“But he’s a tough, small 6-4 wing player. He can score. He rebounds. He plays very hard. He’s a really good kid to add to a college team. He’s personable, he does well in school school. He’s athletic, he’s a lefty, he can make a shot. So there’s a lot of good components there.”
Photo: North Pole Hoops
